Abstract
Liveability is an indispensable component in future city planning and is practically linked with the health status of individuals and communities. However, there was nor comprehensive and universal district-level framework for assessing liveability due to geospatial and social discrepancies among different countries. In this study, using Hong Kong, a highly dense and international city as an example, the Liveability and Health Index (LHI-HK) consisting of 30 indicators was established, with 21 of them related to education, economy, housing, walkability/transport, environment, and health facilities aspects, while the health conditions of citizens in individual districts were examined by other 9 indicators. Respective scoring allocation was determined by statistical reasoning, and was applied to quantify the connections between liveability and health among the 18 districts of Hong Kong in both 2016 and 2019. Temporal changes of spatial features could be traced by this quantitative framework, and obvious correlations between liveability and health were attained, with R values of 0.496 and 0.518 in 2016 and 2019, and corresponding slopes of 0.80 and 0.88, respectively. Based on the statistical results, it was found that Sai Kung and Kwun Tong are the most and the least liveable district of Hong Kong in 2019. The LHI-HK index was well-validated by renowned AARP liveability index and The California Healthy Places Index (HPI), with R values of 0.90 and 0.70, and the potential uncertainties due to data projection were less than 2.5% for all districts, which implicates its relevancy and appropriateness in conducting similar spatial assessments in international cities. Further, both favorable and unfavorable spatial arrangements of each of the 3 district types in Hong Kong were identified, namely residential, commercial, and industrial districts. This opens new windows in enhancing liveability and health status within communities, with the aim of promoting the sustainability of cities in the long run.
Highlights
For Hong Kong context, the government has provided 12 years of free education to all students [45], this study only focuses on investigating the proportion of people having received post-secondary education or above
Based on the study of correlations obtained from the linear fit between each of liveability indicator and overall health performance, it was found that only 1 liveability indicator possessed an R value higher than 0.5, that is, the “Median floor area of accommodation (m)”
The 18 districts of Hong Kong can be categorized into 3 main types, namely, residential districts, commercial districts, and industrial districts, based on their land-use patterns and population figures
Summary
There was nor comprehensive and universal district-level framework for assessing liveability due to geospatial and social discrepancies among different countries. In this study, using Hong Kong, a highly dense and international city as an example, the Liveability and Health Index (LHI-HK) consisting of 30 indicators was established, with 21 of them related to education, economy, housing, walkability/transport, environment, and health facilities aspects, while the health conditions of citizens in individual districts were examined by other 9 indicators. The LHI-HK index was well-validated by renowned AARP liveability index and The California Healthy Places Index (HPI), with R values of 0.90 and 0.70, and the potential uncertainties due to data projection were less than 2.5% for all districts, which implicates its relevancy and appropriateness in conducting similar spatial assessments in international cities
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